Very long loading a save time

[Draghy]

Hello,

 

I've recently started a new game (from the main menu) and loading my save takes 5-10 minutes.

 

I have 3 hours of gameplay on my save, my .fos save has 8 MB and my .nvse save has 1.5 MB. Is this a large save after 3 hours of gameplay?

 

The loading problem only started recently and is very frustrating, even between death reloads I have to wait the same long time. Saving on the other hand is done very fast.

 

I have the most recent versions NVTF installed and Stewie Tweaks, alongside OneTweak.

 

Any thoughts on what might be causing this?

Edited April 22, 2021 by Draghy

[dubiousintent]

* Please see the paragraph about "auto-saves" under the 'Essentials for Getting Started' section of the wiki "FNV General Mod Use Advice" article. If you have been using the built-in "auto-save" feature and you get the endless "roulette wheel" when loading a save game, then your current save game file is corrupted and you will have to either go back to a save before the corruption occurred (hard to tell) or start over.

 

Have you tried loading the save game immediately after exiting to the desktop and re-launching instead of from the main menu? Does the time to load vary?

 

Have you tried "defragging" your disk drive?

 

Have you checked the NVAC and NVSE logs for loading errors?

Otherwise, we REALLY need to see a sorted "load order" (such as produced by "LOOT"); to include the main game and DLC files. (Screenshots don't work so well for the purpose.) With modded games its the sequence, not merely the list of mods, which is the cause of many problems. LOOT's sort gives a good first approximation, correcting the most obvious issues and is sufficient for most players. You can make minor adjustments to the order and tell LOOT how to remember them. It's in the on-line documentation under "Metadata". Instructions on how to copy it's list for posting are in the "How to ask for help" article, and "Checklist Item #11' entry in the wiki "Fallout NV Mod Conflict Troubleshooting" guide.

-Dubious-

[Draghy]

* Please see the paragraph about "auto-saves" under the 'Essentials for Getting Started' section of the wiki "FNV General Mod Use Advice" article. If you have been using the built-in "auto-save" feature and you get the endless "roulette wheel" when loading a save game, then your current save game file is corrupted and you will have to either go back to a save before the corruption occurred (hard to tell) or start over.

 

Have you tried loading the save game immediately after exiting to the desktop and re-launching instead of from the main menu? Does the time to load vary?

 

Have you tried "defragging" your disk drive?

 

Have you checked the NVAC and NVSE logs for loading errors?

Otherwise, we REALLY need to see a sorted "load order" (such as produced by "LOOT"); to include the main game and DLC files. (Screenshots don't work so well for the purpose.) With modded games its the sequence, not merely the list of mods, which is the cause of many problems. LOOT's sort gives a good first approximation, correcting the most obvious issues and is sufficient for most players. You can make minor adjustments to the order and tell LOOT how to remember them. It's in the on-line documentation under "Metadata". Instructions on how to copy it's list for posting are in the "How to ask for help" article, and "Checklist Item #11' entry in the wiki "Fallout NV Mod Conflict Troubleshooting" guide.

 

-Dubious-

 

 

I have disabled any autosave feature for a long time.

 

By exiting and reloading do you mean to load using the console?

 

I don't have any errors in the NVSE console or warnings about large saves, and no messages from NVAC either.

 

I don't think posting my load order would help all that much since I merged plenty of mods into single plugins and also have a number of mods I made myself (mainly patching other mods).

 

Defragging manager shows 0% fragmentation on my hard drive.

Edited April 25, 2021 by Draghy

[Draghy]

Ok so I tested when the issue starts:

 

If I start a new game from the main menu, the game will load fine on death or if I reload again without exiting the game.

 

Once I exit the game and reload the same save file, the long load occurs.

 

Any thoughts on what could cause that? Maybe a recent update to one of the mods I mentioned? Other than updating those, other mods I installed recently were quite minor.

[madmongo]

Look at mods that spawn large numbers of things. If you are spawning stuff all over the place, those spawns end up in your save file and that can cause save game bloat.

 

Are you quick-saving or saving into the same save slot? I have heard that those apparently also cause save-game bloat. I never use quicksave and I always save into a new slot and I don't have any issues.

[Draghy]

Look at mods that spawn large numbers of things. If you are spawning stuff all over the place, those spawns end up in your save file and that can cause save game bloat.

 

Are you quick-saving or saving into the same save slot? I have heard that those apparently also cause save-game bloat. I never use quicksave and I always save into a new slot and I don't have any issues.

I have The Living Desert, Mojave Raiders, Mojave Wildlife and some Increased Presence mods that I can think of that would spawn stuff, however I've been using them way before the long load time started and use their latest versions, I don't think that's the problem. Also I haven't seen anyone else complaining on the mods' pages about a similar problem.

[dubiousintent]

When you first add mod plugins, they don't have the same impact as later on because they haven't spawned as many actors in the beginning as later. The longer you play such a plugin, the more spawned actors the save game file has to keep track of (even when they are "dead", because each actor/corpse is also a "container"). At some point you cross the "tipping point" where you start to see the impact in terms of loading times. This is unlikely to be early in the game, unless you have a number of mods which spawn in the same cells. (The "Mojave Wasteland" exterior is primarily one large cell.)

 

The same applies to everything you pick up. If it is something unique to a mod (only that plugin has it defined), then the record for that item has to be found in that plugin, which is why you will corrupt your save game if you remove that plugin later on. The record is no longer valid. If you are a "hoarder" (like me) you have to be careful to sell off unique plugin items to keep the bloat down. Selling items appears (not verified, but logical) to remove the record reference from the save game file.

 

-Dubious-

[Draghy]

I managed to fix this thanks everyone for the answers nevertheless.

 

The problem is Nexus Mod Manager activated some wrong plugins after I reloaded a load order, and loaded into my game 3 plugins that were a merge of about 20 other smaller plugins, but those 3 had roughly the same mods in them, the file should have only been active once since those were older versions of my merged plugin.

 

This resulted in the same mods running in the background thrice, handicapping the load time and performance of the game.

 

I left only the good version active and everything is back to normal.

[dubiousintent]

Thanks for explaining the reason behind your problem. While rare, that is something we can add to the checks people should make in similar circumstances.

 

[Edit: Added 'Issue - Long loading times' to "Starting the game" section of the wiki "Fallout NV Mod Conflict Troubleshooting" article.

 

-Dubious-